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Article: Napa Valley College students revive county's Green Party

After a year or more lapse, the Solano County Green Party is back, and seeking new members, organizers said.

Napa Valley College student Jena Goodman, a Vallejo resident, said the campus has an active Green Party chapter and members decided to branch off and reinvigorate the Solano County chapter.

"Our goal is to get Green Party officials on a local level into local office, such as the City Council, and we are also very much in favor of local businesses," said Goodman, who added the Solano Green Party has been inactive for at least a year or so.

A handful of Napa College students who live in Vallejo held their first general meeting on March 6 in downtown Vallejo. Those included Ruscal Cayangyang and Antonio Padilla, plus Goodman.

The Green Party is a non-corporate political party with a platform of grassroots democracy, social justice, ecology and non-violence.

Goodman said the immediate goal is to find people to serve on a council and then build membership and work on local issues.

The group planned to hold another meeting Wednesday, with another in May.

The next meeting takes place 7 p.m. May 1, at 617 Marin St. with later meetings on the first Wednesdays of each month.

"As a political science student and a citizen of Solano County, I felt it was important to join the Green Party and I'm excited that it is being reactivated," Padilla said in a written announcement.

Many of these NVC student leaders joined the Green Party because of activities organized by Campus Greens, an NVC student club.

Campus Greens has been active in the last few years. Members brought Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to the college to speak during the 2012 election and the club was also involved with the Proposition 37 GMO labeling campaign.

The club also held a film screening about Vallejo resident Guy Jarreau, 34, who was shot and killed by Vallejo police officers in December 2010 in downtown Vallejo.